0001|                       HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 59
    |
0002|     43RD LEGISLATURE - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - SECOND SESSION, 1998
    |
0003|                            INTRODUCED BY
    |
0004|                         JAMES ROGER MADALENA
    |
0005|     
    |
0006|                                   
    |
0007|     
    |
0008|     
    |
0009|     
    |
0010|                           A JOINT MEMORIAL
    |
0011|     REQUESTING THAT THE CULTURAL PROPERTIES REVIEW COMMITTEE
    |
0012|     PROTECT AND PRESERVE THE KNEELING NUN AND KNEELING NUN
    |
0013|     MOUNTAIN AS A TREASURED CULTURAL RESOURCE, THAT CONGRESS
    |
0014|     DECLARE THE KNEELING NUN AND KNEELING NUN MOUNTAIN AS A
    |
0015|     NATIONAL MONUMENT AND THAT MINING THAT DISTURBS THAT STRUCTURE
    |
0016|     BE PROHIBITED.
    |
0017|     
    |
0018|          WHEREAS, the Kneeling Nun and Kneeling Nun mountain have
    |
0019|     been sacred to the Native American populations of southwestern
    |
0020|     New Mexico for many centuries; and 
    |
0021|          WHEREAS, the Kneeling Nun and Kneeling Nun mountain have
    |
0022|     been a sacred shrine and landmark for Hispanics and Anglos
    |
0023|     since their arrival in southwestern New Mexico, the shrine and
    |
0024|     landmark being visible from atop the Black range and remaining
    |
0025|     through the centuries to welcome all to the home of the
    |
<center>- 1 -</center>

0001|     ancient Mimbres and Mogollon Indians and to the homeland of
    |
0002|     the great Apache warriors, Geronimo and Mangas Coloradas; and
    |
0003|          WHEREAS, the land around the Kneeling Nun and Kneeling
    |
0004|     Nun mountain has been mined for centuries for copper,
    |
0005|     turquoise and other minerals, leaving only the Kneeling Nun
    |
0006|     and her mountain to remind us of the terrain that used to
    |
0007|     exist in the area; and
    |
0008|          WHEREAS, the Kneeling Nun and her mountain have not been
    |
0009|     mined while under the care of the bureau of land management;
    |
0010|     and
    |
0011|          WHEREAS, the Phelps Dodge mining corporation now would
    |
0012|     like to include Kneeling Nun mountain in an expansion of what
    |
0013|     has been claimed to be the largest open pit copper mine in the
    |
0014|     world; and
    |
0015|          WHEREAS, mining operations are already dangerously close
    |
0016|     to undermining the ninety-foot-high monolith that is the
    |
0017|     Kneeling Nun; and
    |
0018|          WHEREAS, Phelps Dodge, in its effort to obtain the
    |
0019|     Kneeling Nun and her mountain for mining, has offered to move
    |
0020|     the Kneeling Nun from its visible and historic location or to
    |
0021|     trade land in the Las Cruces area to the bureau of land
    |
0022|     management in exchange for the mountain, while at the same
    |
0023|     time continuing its blasting and mining operations closer and
    |
0024|     closer to the revered nun; and 
    |
0025|          WHEREAS, destruction of Kneeling Nun mountain will not
    |
<center>- 2 -</center>

0001|     add to the ore reserves of Phelps Dodge, nor increase profit
    |
0002|     or provide new jobs, and the destruction and desecration of
    |
0003|     this site would increase the life of the mining operation by
    |
0004|     only four years; and
    |
0005|          WHEREAS, the community of Santa Rita and surrounding
    |
0006|     communities have joined together to oppose the sacrilegious
    |
0007|     destruction and transfer of this site to Phelps Dodge and have
    |
0008|     joined to have the Kneeling Nun and Kneeling Nun mountain
    |
0009|     declared a national monument;
    |
0010|          NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE
    |
0011|     STATE OF NEW MEXICO that it request the cultural properties
    |
0012|     review committee and other state officials, including the
    |
0013|     governor; the commissioner of public lands; the New Mexico
    |
0014|     secretaries of environment and energy, minerals and natural
    |
0015|     resources; the executive director of the office of cultural
    |
0016|     affairs; the director of the department of game and fish; the
    |
0017|     director of the bureau of mines and mineral resources of the
    |
0018|     New Mexico institute of mining and technology; the chairman of
    |
0019|     the soil and water conservation commission; and the director
    |
0020|     of the agricultural experiment station of New Mexico state
    |
0021|     university, to make all efforts to permanently protect and
    |
0022|     preserve the Kneeling Nun and Kneeling Nun mountain as the
    |
0023|     unique cultural resource that it is and to prohibit mining of
    |
0024|     the mountain or activity that will disturb the Kneeling Nun;
    |
0025|     and
    |
<center>- 3 -</center>

0001|          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the president of the United
    |
0002|     States, the New Mexico congressional delegation and the
    |
0003|     secretary of the interior be requested to prohibit the
    |
0004|     transfer of the Kneeling Nun and any of Kneeling Nun mountain
    |
0005|     to any company that intends to mine the mountain or in any way
    |
0006|     destroy or move the Kneeling Nun and that the Kneeling Nun and
    |
0007|     Kneeling Nun mountain be added to the national register of
    |
0008|     historic places and the national registry of natural
    |
0009|     landmarks; and
    |
0010|          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that congress be requested to
    |
0011|     declare the Kneeling Nun and Kneeling Nun mountain to be a
    |
0012|     national monument dedicated to preserving the history and
    |
0013|     cultural heritage of the ancient and great Mimbres and
    |
0014|     Mogollon cultures; and
    |
0015|          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
    |
0016|     transmitted to the cultural properties review committee and
    |
0017|     other state officials, including the governor; the
    |
0018|     commissioner of public lands; the New Mexico secretaries of
    |
0019|     environment and energy, minerals and natural resources; the
    |
0020|     executive director of the office of cultural affairs; the
    |
0021|     director of the department of game and fish; the director of
    |
0022|     the bureau of mines and mineral resources of the New Mexico
    |
0023|     institute of mining and technology; the chairman of the soil
    |
0024|     and water conservation commission; the director of the
    |
0025|     agricultural experiment station of New Mexico state
    |
<center>- 4 -</center>

0001|     university; the New Mexico congressional delegation; the
    |
0002|     secretary of the interior; the assistant secretary of Indian
    |
0003|     affairs; the president of the United States; and the governor
    |
0004|     of the pueblo of Zuni.
    |
0005|                                  
    |